Just how low-ball is low-ball? What percentage off of asking? What precentage off of comps?
I was thinking it’s like the old song, you have to be cruel to be kind. You’ll get labeled a vulture, but in reality, you are probably helping them out.
I thought about that today as I looked at very similar homes with a 30-40% spread on asking price. I think I know how they got there. Some look at sales from December, added 10-20% and wallah, $1.2M. Others looked at December, realized the market has softened and turned and are doing December prices minus 10-20% trying to get out. If I recall December and Q1, these homes were all sitting at that oh-my million number.
I’ve also been wondering if it will be different this time. In previous downturns, prices where fairly sticky on the downside. I’m starting to see signs of a rout. The printed color ads are showing foreclosures being dumped claiming bank’s loss, your gain. Homes that look like they were set to be flipped, are being aborted and put back on the market.
I had a thought for Laura in the off-board thread regarding, the market can’t be determined by what buyers want to pay. I wonder what she would think when she gets an offer contingent on the buyer receiving a satisfactory letter explaining why the buyer should buy her house instead of one of the ten others for sale in the same housing track.
